orange gold fish

Goldfish Water Care – Best Type, Temperature & Conditioner

So you’re thinking about getting a goldfish? It’s important to understand how to properly take care of them so that your goldfish can live a long stress-free life. If you don’t know the proper water temperature, and the types of conditioner to use for your tank, it could cause problems for your goldfish and even create disease in your tank.

I’ll also talk about why it’s a bad idea to use an ordinary goldfish bowl as a fish tank. Let’s dive in (no pun intended!) and explain all you need to know when it comes to goldfish water care!

What’s The Best Kind Of Water For Goldfish

The best kind of water to use for goldfish is bottled drinking water that came from a natural source and is not carbonated. Choosing the type of water to use for goldfish is very important and can improve or hurt the health of your pet fish.

goldfish water type

Other kinds of water you should not use are:

  • Tap Water – This is bad because it usually is not filtered, contains an unknown amount of various chemicals and other contamination.
  • Distilled Water – This is bad because distilled water is most often too alkaline for fish.
  • Reverse Osmosis Water – This usually too filtered and doesn’t contain the basic minerals that fish need to survive.

The best way to get your water is to measure the amount of bottled water needed for your tank, and then try to find sales at your local store and buy in bulk.

Now that you have the water, the next thing you need to do is condition and prepare the water for your goldfish.

Best Water Temperature For Goldfish

Water temperature for goldfish like most other fish, is important for the life and health of your fish.

Goldfish are very adaptable to water temperatures that range from 40°F to 75°F but are happiest with a water temperature at 60°F-70°F.

Best Water Temperature for Breeding Goldfish

The best way to promote the spawning of goldfish is to control the water temperature. In the winter it’s best to keep the temperature at around 55°F and slowly increasing the temperature to around 70°F over the following month. Generally, two degrees a day is good enough for the spawning of goldfish.

How to Monitor the Water Temperature

The best way to accurately measure the water temperature of your goldfish tank is to buy a good aquarium thermometer and note down the daily temperature in a notebook.

Below is a Good Thermometer I Recommend for your Aquarium.

JCreate Fishtank thermometer, touch screen digital aquarium thermometer with LCD display.

Best Way to Control your Water Temperature

You can control the water temperature of your goldfish by using a tank water heater. You can adjust the temperature from an outside dial and it will safely warm your tank to the desired temperature.

Now that you have the water temperature under control, the last step is to use a water conditioner. This will help in getting the right PH level in the water, as well as the correct amount of minerals for your goldfish.

Best Water Conditioner For Goldfish

If you are using the recommended bottled drinking water, then it almost safe to say that your water is pretty safe for your goldfish.

Now, if you use tap water or any other water, it is required that you use water conditioner or the water will stress your fish which can cause early disease and death.

Even if you use Bottled Water adding water conditioner can help boost your fish’s defense coat and keep them strong.

What Does the Water Conditioner Do?

Water conditioner helps remove any of the normal chemicals that are found in tap and filtered water such as chlorine. To humans, this is harmless, but to something as small of a fish, it can be very dangerous.

Some brands of water conditioners have added minerals and nutrients that help maintain tank water at the best level and reduce stress on your goldfish.

Do Goldfish Need Water Filters?

Yes, Goldfish like most other fish require water filters to live a healthy life. A lot of people have the misconception that only a small bowl and water is needed. This isn’t true, they are quite dirty fish and produce a lot of waste that needs to be filtered out regularly.

Water filters will filter all of the fish poop and leftover food in the tank. It is ideal that you get a filter that has an hourly filter rate of at least 4 times your tank size. So if you have a 10-gallon tank, your filter rate needs to be around 40 gallons.

Types of Filters

External Filters

These are used externally by placing it under or around the tank connecting by a hose. These are generally more expensive but a lot more efficient.

Internal Filters

These are much more popular filters and a bit cheaper. They work by putting the filter in the fish tank and filtering it through a filter media that will run the water back in normally through a waterfall motion. They are fitted inside the tank at the top.

Do Goldfish Need An Air-pump?

No, for most situations goldfish don’t need air pumps because a water filter will usually provide enough water disturbance to be oxygenated. Most of the time air pumps are used in aquariums for really big and populated tanks.

Something people don’t know is that the water for a goldfish tank needs to stay oxygenated or else they will get sick and die. However, you don’t need to force air into a tank with an air pump. The disturbance in the water from the filter will be enough to allow oxygen to bind with the water.

If you’re just keeping goldfish, then I wouldn’t recommend getting an air pump for your aquarium unless it’s a decent size or has special fish that need the oxygen.

Other Water Care Tips & Information

goldfish in a tank

Now that you’re on your way to having some happy healthy goldfish, let’s go over some more essential water care for your goldfish tank!

I’ve gone over the best type of water to use, the correct water temperature, and water conditioner for your aquarium. Now let’s take a look at how to maintain your water.

It’s best to do a water change of 1/4th of your tank every week. This can be done by simply getting a clean bowl and scooping out the dirty water. Alternatively, you can use a vacuum that is designed to suck all the debris and poop from the gravel or substrate.

Once that is done, you can get a rag or sponge and clean the inside of the glass with detergent-free dish soap. Then just simply replace the water with new bottled drinking water. Be sure to add the water slowly at room temperature, not too cold or too hot otherwise it will shock your goldfish.

Fish Bowls and Goldfish and Why They Are Bad

In the past and even still today it was popular to see goldfish being given away as prizes at fairs and then placed in just a glass bowl with no heater, proper water, or filter. You see this all the times in movies and that is simply a terrible way to keep almost any fish, let alone a goldfish.

goldfish in a bowl

Most people don’t know this but goldfish actually need quite a lot of care and space to grow to their full potential. Did you that goldfish can grow up to 12-14 inches? That’s crazy. You need at least a 10-gallon tank with all the standard fish keeping equipment mentioned above to properly keep a healthy goldfish.

Aside from that, the water volume in a tiny fishbowl is not enough for them to swim around comfortably, and there’s not enough good bacteria to keep the goldfish healthy.

Final Thoughts

By following this guide on goldfish water care, you will have a happy healthy goldfish that will live its full lifespan (about 10-15 years!). Never keep them in a fishbowl long term, and always use a proper tank setup and change 1/4th of their water once per week. Your goldfish will thank you!

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